A new manufacturing and support base for HTI Group’s American lift brands is coming to Tooele, Utah. Located about 30 minutes from Salt Lake City, Tooele will become the new home for Skytrac and also serve as a satellite facility to Leitner-Poma’s headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado. “This new Utah-based facility will allow us to continue to grow our American-made capabilities while expanding our existing headcount in Utah by up to 60 percent,” said Daren Cole, President of Leitner-Poma of America. “We’re proud to produce all Skytrac parts and nearly all LPOA parts in America,” he continued. Tooele will become the largest HTI facility in the United States at 130,000 square feet and represents an investment of $27 million.
In addition to state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities, the 25 acre site will also include a 162 foot tall LEITWIND turbine capable of generating 100 percent of the plant’s electricity needs. Turbines from HTI subsidiary Leitwind utilize a DirectDrive generator similar to those used in the company’s detachable lifts.
The Tooele site is expected to increase Leitner-Poma’s Utah headcount to 120 employees. “We welcome Leitner-Poma of America’s expansion to Tooele,” said Utah Governor Spencer Cox. “Its new manufacturing facility will complement Utah’s thriving ski industry and give the company access to the diverse and talented workforce that exists in our great state.”
Skytrac’s move to a new plant comes on the heels of the company’s biggest sales year ever with 10 complete lifts in 2022. “New ropeway systems are rising at a record-setting pace worldwide,” noted Cole. “The output from this new campus, as well as our work to further onshore our supply chain, positions LPOA and Skytrac to better meet the growing demand throughout the country.”
The Tooele factory is expected to open in 2024.
Lift Blog 
They locating in Utah to increase chances of winning LCC project?
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Skytrac has been in SLC since its start in 2010.
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Does skytrac and LPOA manufacture lift motors and gearboxes in North America or are they imported from Europe? Anyone know?
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Skytrac uses Flender (German with some US production) gearboxes mated to a Caterpillar (USA) bulldozer final drives , LPOA uses Kissling (Swiss) for gearboxes and manufactures the Direct drive motors and drives in Austria. The motors, drives, PLCs etc that both companies use have global and domestic sources, from what I know standby/AUX engines have been difficult to get in time lately as Cummins (USA) has had terrible lead times but on the smaller horse power lifts Kubota and JBC have been much easier to get. So now that I have gone off the deep end there is much that is imported even if 90% of the lift is domestic.
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I ALWAYS knew the bullwheel bearing looked familiar, its absolutely a sprocket from a tracked bulldozer
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I think that LPA should offer some Leinter designs to compete with Doppelmayr. The Pininfarina could be an actual D-Line competitor, and it would allow LPA to offer an 8-pack chairlift option. Their 2s gondola could be a unique entry that Doppelmayr would not be able to compete with. In my opinion the 2s gondola would be a perfect replacement for the trams at Grouse, Cannon,snowbird, and so on. It provides the functionality of a multi-cable system, being able to cross large spans with minimal tower support,while also being cheaper than a 3s and having more capacity than a conventional tram. Also, in my opinion the Pininfarina designs rival Yan High speed quads in terms of aesthetics, you can really tell that the firm who designed the Pininfarina also designs Ferratis.
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I couldn’t agree more. I understand LPA trying to compete with Doppelmayr on cost with the cheaper looking LPA terminals relative to any of Doppelmayr fancier terminal designs while maintaining the same advancements and quality for the internals, but I can imagine some of its customers would go for some more premium looking terminals like the Pininfarina designs if they were offered, especially if they introduced 8 packs alongside it. On a side note, LPA boosting its domestic capacity is great news for the American lift industry and workers, and hopefully this puts pressure on Doppelmayr to follow suit instead of importing nearly all of their lift components from Austria and Quebec, Canada.
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I do not think they LPA terminals look cheap. I think they look great.
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I hate the D-Line terminals as the LPA terminals of those days, they look horrible. Even the 80s terminals are looking better.
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I dont think they look cheap in a vacuum, but compared to Doppelmayr terminals and Poma/Leitners European terminals, I think they look relatively cheaper, with the exposed T support beams (that made sense on the Omegas since the entire terminal was tensioned on the wheels of the support beams), awkward looking half windows on the front, and underskin wood that never matches the colour of the rest of the terminal. I think if the LPA terminal had the full frontal windows like the early Omega terminals had, and the wooden underskin of Poma’s MULTIX, they would look on par if not nicer than the Uni-G. To be fair, im in the minority of people who think the D-Line terminals look great, so to each their own.
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@TY
The Exposed T-beams are like that because just like the Omega detachables , the entire terminal still moves. It has not changed much since the Omega Era. Some bigger lifts such as American Flyer, Big Burn, Snow Ghost Express and all LPA Gondolas and Telemixes all have internal tension carriages, so the terminal is fixed to those beams. You can also tell if the lift has an internal tension carriage based on how the beams are structured. If the one closest to front of the terminals is straight and not angled, it will have an ITC. However, that might change this year with Mahogany Ridge at Steamboat having 2 different support beams at the return and drive terminal.
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I conducted a small sampling of similarly colored Doppelmayr and LPOA lifts in a comment under this lift: https://liftblog.com/creekside-gondola-whistler-blackcomb-bc-2/
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I really think that LPOA terminals could look better. I’m a Doppelmayr fan through and through, but I have to say that Leitner and Poma’s European designs look great. What I don’t understand is why Europe gets these beautiful terminals, while in the US we’re stuck with the ugly terminals LPOA currently uses. Why can’t they just use the same enclosure they use in Europe?
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@BOB,
Leitner and Poma operate independently in Europe. Leitner has multiple terminal styles including the Pininfarina Design. Poma also has multiple designs. If LPOA would use components from Europe, that would involve transporting a whole lift across the Atlantic, hope it gets shipped in time, especially in a period of time where the world is being impacted by supply chain issues. If they were to transport European style terminals, they would have to produce those ones as well as the ones for Europe in that year. They might not have the capacity for that. I think the LPA Terminals look fine. There have definitely been more customization options as of recently.
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Nobody will ever beat the G/CTEC Stealth Series for best looking detachable IMO, best combo of interior space and sleek modern styling
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@aidanreilly,
Thanks for the correction and detailed explanation of the different tension systems in LPA terminals, makes more sense now why they would have the exposed T beams.
@iceface
Thats an awesome list you put together, really enjoyed looking through all the examples!
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Doppelmayr also makes 2S gondolas.
https://newsroom.doppelmayr.com/en/doppelmayr/mediacenter/category/2s-3s-gondola-lifts/
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They used to, but I don’t think they offer them anymore. As far as I know, the last Doppelmayr 2s was made in 2002
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What lift was that?
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They have unveiled this: (similar to 3s but more compact and energy efficient)
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I was wrong actually, the newest pure doppelmayr 2s gondola was made in 2004:
https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-2s-de-la-massana-doppelmayr-2523.html
they also collaborated with an Asian company called Hyosung in 2008
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the collaboration:
https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-2s-tongyeong-hyosung-doppelmayr-5869.html
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When do I start
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When Leitner-Poma built 618 and 11 at Wasatch Peaks Ranch in 2021 and 2022, there was very little knowledge on the lifts themselves and the names of the lifts. When images started to appear it revealed that the main lift had the numbers “618” on the side of the terminal. After doing some research, it appears that 618 was an old steam locomotive that operated up and down the Wasatch. “11” was a mystery for a while. I believe that 11 stands for “Tooele Valley 11”, which also happened to be a steam locomotive. Both lifts are now under a different name, but found it ironic that LPA would be building its facility in Tooele, Utah.
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Why Tooele and not SLC? I wonder how this will effect Doppelmayr.
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The Tooele property location is probably a fraction of the cost of being in SLC.
Doppelmayr will continue to do what they do. Doppelmayr defiantly wants to push the more expensive D line model.
There are many places in the US where Ford and Chevy Dealers are on the same corner.
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Absolute worst company to work for. Constantly being mentally and verbally abused by so called director of manufacturing. All while being forced to work 60 plus hours a week under threat of your Job if you dont. Employees have no home/family life. Leitner Poma is your life if you work for them.
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